Opening Day 2010: Return of students brings a smile to Skaneateles school neighbor

View full sizeJohn Stith / The Post-StandardPupils get off the buses outside State Street Intermediate School in Skaneateles.

Skaneateles, NY – Olga Psenicnik stood outside her State Street home next to State Street Intermediate School watering her flower gardens as school buses lined up at the curb.

She smiled as she watched the pupils in grades three through five play before the start of the school year.

“I am so happy, because I miss them,” she said. “All summer, we miss them. … We love yellow school bus. We enjoy them every morning and look for them at 3 o’clock.”

Psenicnik, a native of Croatia in the former Yugoslavia, said she planted her flower gardens for the teachers at the State Street school. Her two sons, Zoran, now 43, and Vedran, 38, were exchange students in the Chittenango school district, and she appreciates what the teachers do for their students.

“Your teachers work very hard,” said Psenicnik, who moved to the United States with her husband, Zlatko, in 1991. “I made these gardens for them. You never see teachers in Europe – not all Europe, maybe just my country – stay on the street and help the children.”

Thousands of students returned to school today across the region. More schools will open on Wednesday with a few opening on Thursday.

“Knock on wood,” Skaneateles Superintendent Philip D’Angelo said. “We’re having a really good opening … It was one of the smoothest we’ve ever had.”

The story was the same in the Onondaga and Marcellus districts.

"Opening day has gone wonderfully well," Onondaga school Superintendent Joseph Rotella said. "The kids are doing very well."

Marcellus Assistant Superintendent Trish McCarron said one bus ran a little late on its morning route, but otherwise everything went well.